Malaysia. Ancient glassware in Malaysia: The Pengkalan Bujang collection Edited by Daniel Perret and Zulkifli Jaafar Kuala Lumpur: Department of Museums Malaysia, 2014. Pp. 206. Map, Plates, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

Ancient glassware in Malaysia: The Pengkalan Bujang collection Edited by DANIEL PERRET and ZULKIFLI JAAFAR Kuala Lumpur: Department of Museums Malaysia, 2014. Pp. 206. Map, Plates, Bibliography, Index. doi: 10.1017/S002246341600062X This volume provides a useful, profusely illustrated and up-to-date insight into ancient glass excavated at the Pengkalan Bujang and Sungai Mas sites in Malaysia, with notes on other related finds from elsewhere in Southeast Asia as well as various shipwrecks. The work is set out in four sections: the first by Daniel Perret is a comprehensive review of recoveries of ancient glass in Southeast Asia with a map showing the various locations discussed. This is followed by a catalogue of significant sherds and outline drawings of fragments of glass vessels from Pengkalan Bujang in Kedah by Daniel Perret and Zulkifli Jaafar where almost 6,000 sherds have been recovered. A detailed section on the chemical composition of glass artefacts based on LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry), a recently-developed nondestructive analytical technique, with new data from Pengkalan Bujang and Sungai Mas by Laure Dussubieux and Jane Allen follows, with a final discussion on the Pengkalan Bujang glass, its characteristics and historical context by Daniel Perret. At the end of the day, however, although general conclusions may be drawn from this work, we appear to be left with more questions than answers regarding the specific origins of the ancient glass, for, as the authors point out, more research is required to try to resolve the many outstanding questions relating to their origins. The catalogue of fragments is illustrated with colour photographs, although not to scale, but with accompanying line drawings that provide a useful range of illustrations for future physical comparisons. Analysis of ancient glass vessels in the Malay Peninsula was pioneered by Alastair Lamb in the 1960s. Thereafter analytical work on glass from Sumatra was undertaken initially by Dr Robert Brill at Corning, with more recent typological analyses on a broad range of recoveries from the west coast of Sumatra sites of Barus, Lobu Tua and Bukit Hasang by Guillot et al. in Histoire de Barus II (Archipel, 2003) and more recently chemical analyses by Laure Dussubieux, 'Compositional analysis of ancient glass fragments from Si Pamutung, North Sumatra', in History of Padang Lawas, 1. The site of Si Pamutung (mid ninth-thirteenth century CE) (Archipel, 2015). Although identification of early glass-making locations in Southeast Asia has transformed older theories relating to India as a source of glass, the lack of information with regard to the manufacture of glass as well as earthenware, particularly relating to mediaeval South Asia and Sri Lanka, leaves a hiatus in identifying the specific origins of these materials. Analysis suggests that early trading networks linking the Near and Middle East to both the west and east coasts of India would, however, appear to have played an important role in the distribution of glassware. Determination of the chemical composition of the Pengkalan Bujang glass was divided into two main categories--identification of glasses with a high lime (Ca) content which appear to originate in the Near East and those with a high alumina (Al)-low lime content, formerly associated with South Asia or Sri Lanka, but which more recently have been found at sites in Asia Minor that may, significantly, have been linked to the early and mediaeval Indian Ocean trade networks. …